A chiropractic clinic offered a free trial session at a roadshow in a mall and she went to try. She had appointments to go 3 times a week, which is terrible for a working adult's schedule. To add salt to injury, each appointment lasted less than 5 minutes.
You may have heard similar horror stories or even experienced them personally. Not just chiropractors, it can also be the beauty therapist pointing out all you flaws while offering you a limited time promotion to treat them while you were in a vulnerable position.
Actually, the beauty industry received 1454 complaints last year, accounting for about 10 percent of all complaints that the Consumers Association Of Singapore (CASE) received.
My wife was in a similar position too previously. She had gone for a massage and while lying face down was asked to add essential oils and buy a package. She felt trapped in the room until she agreed to buy more sessions.
Prepaid packages often happen in pressure sales tactics where you are told that your crooked back, posture, freckles etc can lead to paralysis or something worse if left untreated. Often they prey on your fears to ensure that they can hang on to you, hoping that they will not lose you to another competitor. You are then locked in as all the money is paid upfront.
There are physiotherapy clinics that sell packages too, despite the Ministry of Health saying physiotherapists cannot do so. Perhaps these clinics pay kickbacks to rouge agents and doctors to refer them patients so they practice such tactics. MOH investigated physiotherapists, doctors, insurance agents and others after a physiotherapy clinic in Camden Medical Centre went bust for inflating insurance claims by selling packages.
As a business owner, I can understand that this helps to protect the businesses that sell them. Running a physiotherapy clinic (or beauty salon) requires significant capital, which includes staff, rent and equipment as part of overhead costs. When patients/ clients buy a package, it helps to allay these costs quickly, especially for a new clinic.
Selling a package does not work in our clinic. For instance, if I treated 5 new patients a day and each of them buys a package of say, 10 sessions. I would owe them 9 sessions after their first session, but I would soon run out of appointment slots to see them if all new patients buy a package.
It will only work if the patient sees another colleague or each session is less than 5 minutes. In our clinics, initial sessions are 60 minutes long and follow up sessions 30 minutes if needed.
Actually we try to make our patients well as soon as possible instead of hanging on to them. We prefer that they get pain free and be happy patients so that they refer their families and friends to us.
As patients (or customers), please do not be afraid to say no if you are asked to buy a package. If a promotion sounds too good to be true, it probably is. These salespeople/ healthcare professionals will try hard selling tactics, often by preying on your fears. However, you have the right to decline any offer that does not align with your needs or if you are not ready to make a decision. Stick to your decision firmly and politely.
Remember under the Allied Health Professions Council which registers physiotherapists in Singapore, does not allow physiotherapists to sell packages. You can definitely visit a clinic that does not offer any packages so you do not have to worry about committing to any large upfront payment.
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